Freight Farm
Pillsbury United Communities

Located in a North Minneapolis parking lot outside Oak Park Center, Pillsbury United Communities’ Freight Farm is not your typical “farm.” Rather, it’s a “container farm” used not only for growing food, but for growing community-focused programs focused on better nutrition, well-rounded education, and much more.

The shipping container’s mini-hydroponics program cultivates crops like lettuce and dill under purple LED lights, tended to by Pillsbury Freight Farm staff like Ethan Neal. The crops then get used in Oak Park Center’s community dinners.

“We have to really think about how are we serving the community in a new way, an innovative way that allows the community to thrive alongside us,” said Neal. “And, that we’re co-creating that change alongside community rather than going into the communities and telling them what they need.”